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On the blood and spectacles blog this week, just in time for Halloween I have some rules-light, RPG Horror rules to try out.

You, my loyal reader, know that I like to dabble in all sorts of game design. My primary focus has been in wargames, but that is not the only type of games I have worked on. I have built card games, board games, and other simple games for my own amusement as well. One area I have commented on previously and actively play is Role-playing Games (RPGs).

I actually started my RPG journey before my wargame journey. I learned how to play "Red Box" D&D from a friend's dad; a Lutheran pastor. I picked up all the boxed sets from a little bookstore in the local strip mall, the only strip mall within a day's bike ride! From there, I managed to scrap and scrape together the basic AD&D books, the Buck Rogers RPG, and the TSR Marvel Super Heroes game. As a teen, I played a lot of West End Games D6 Star Wars and Shadowrun. Many of the books have been lost to time, and I still lament the loss of my Masters edition boxed set. Shortly there after, an ad in Dragon magazine sucked me into the world of Warhammer and I have managed to juggle my two RPG and Wargame hobbies every since.

Now that I am older, having regular RPG nights and/or Wargame nights is much easier. I was able to get into a local RPG session much easier than I was able to get into the wargaming community! The wargaming scene had a number of starts and stops. Meanwhile, I have had a long running RPG group with a dedicated weekly game night, that was only interrupted by COVID, but has since re-grouped after vaccines became widely available.

The re-engagement with this group has rekindled my interest in RPGs. Thanks to this group I have been able to play and run a few more modern games such as Dune, Lasers and Feelings, Monster of the Week, Those Dark Places, and more. The group is primarily a Dungeons and Dragons 5e group, but we are not averse to spreading our wings a bit! Thankfully, we have several people who are capable of being game masters as well as players too!

All of this regular activity has led me to be interested in designing and playing RPGs. Today, I want to share a simple rules-lite game I built for running a horror themed one-shot.

You can read all about them here:
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2022/10/role-playing-game-design-rules-light.html